02 June 2005
Samir Qasir
Explosion
Samir Qasir of the al-Nahar newspaper died instantly in the blast of a car bomb outside his home in the Ashrafiyeh neighbourhood, in a residential area of mostly Christian east Beirut.
Police said the bomb was placed under the driver's seat of the vehicle. Qasir was a front-page columnist for al-Nahar, where he wrote angrily critical articles against the pro-Syrian Lebanese regime. Mr Qasir was known as a supporter of Lebanon's anti-Syrian opposition. He is the most prominent Lebanese figure to be assassinated since former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
